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2022 (2020.II)

lots of museums and cultural institutions are open and planning to reopen later this year, so it’s time to revisit my ArtToSeeNYC museum-going goal!

i’ve revised my spreadsheet checklist including the following info:

  • hours of operations

  • admission

  • pay what you can admission

  • cultural and city discount passes

  • notes on important visitor info (like tour only, or advanced tickets required, etc.)

    improvements for 2022 (2020.II)

looking forward to this year of museum-going.
♡ can’t wait to tell you all about it.

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2021 VS ATSNYC

In the best interest of health and safety, ArtToSeeNYC will remain on hiatus until 2022. I have a few other projects that I am working on in the interim and look forward to going back to museums in ‘22.

Hope everyone stays well ♥

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2020 VS ATSNYC

This museum visiting project is clearly on PAUSE much like the rest of New York City.

I have been behind in blogging but I got to 30 whole museums in 2.5 months, which, is pretty good. I have to see how I want reconcile everything. My last few museum visits will be recorded as Throw Back Thursday posts.

Until I have found another fun list 500 museums to visit digitally. SO ITS ON for that. (What’s a goal if it isn’t slightly insane?)

So disappointed, but very grateful to have my health

Hope everyone stays well ♥

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Week 05: ATSNYC 2020

alright- week five down still going fairly close on track for 4 museum/cultural institutions a week.

The Center for Jewish History

the center for jewish history is a “collaborative home” for five partner organizations and a smithsonian affiliate.

the exhibitions i saw were Russ & Daughters: an Appetizing Story- as a life long new yorker, Russ and Daughters is a lower east side classic. the display case exhibition looked at the 105 year history up to present complete with long time employee profiles, a focus on the role of the women of the family and a recreated deli counter.

another notable exhibition was All in the Family- Photographs from Across the Jewish World, a glimpse into personal family photographs from all five partner organizations.

the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the exhibition was the Rise of the Yiddish Machines: The Typewriter and Yiddish Literature. at the turn of the 20th century, when typewriters were becoming the way for writers to write (move over pen and ink) and this was the case for those writing in yiddish as well (not to be confused with hebrew- they had side by side typewriters to show the nuance). they also had a typewriter visitors could try out for themselves which is a nice touch as 20thC typewriters is definitely touch sensory experience.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: saturdays and closes at 3:00pm on friday

  • late nights: open ‘til 8pm mondays and wednesdays

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: no (BUT currently selling select russ and daughters items at the front desk)

  • bookstore: yes - two small gift shop carousels on the way out.

recommended reading/listening:

The Yeshiva University Museum

so, for the sake of the spreadsheet, i kept the yeshiva university museum separate from the center for jewish history. for all practical purposes, they don’t need to be listed twice on the list of museums and cultural institutions - OR- alternatively the other four organizations should be listed- either one. since the other four orgs.

never the less there were two exhibitions in two galleries. one exhibition was From A(gam) to Z(aritsky): Highlights of Israeli art from YU Museum’s Collection and Hey, Wow! The Art of Oded Halahmy.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: saturdays and closes at 3:00pm on friday

  • late nights: open ‘til 8pm mondays and wednesdays

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: no specifically - center for jewish heritage gift shop carousels on the way out.

Printed Matter

printed matter is an addition to the traditional Wikipedia list (which i will be tinkering with in January 2021-once my museum goal is complete). print matter is one of my favorite institutions in new york city. i look forward to the NY Art Book Fair every year, like it is my own personal christmas- 2020 will be my 10th year going.

the official narrative of the founding of Printed Matter (PM) is on PM’s website- in a 2015 panel discussion the founding was discussed. the start, like many things in new york city in the 70’s, was collaborative and there are many ways the remaining founders recall. which is to say, some details are still disputed but all in warm regards. key founders include Sol LeWitt, Lucy Lippard, Carol Androcchio, Amy Baker (Sandback), Edit DeAk, Mike Glier, Nancy Linn, Walter Robinson, Ingrid Sischy, Pat Steir, Mimi Wheeler, Robin White and Irena von Zahn. PM is a leader world-wide dedicated to “the dissemination, understanding, and appreciation of artists’ books.”

the current exhibition is Kandis Williams/the work of Cassandra Press. CASSANDRA Press is a publish project by Kandis Williams, Taylor Doran and Jordan Nassar. they publish lo-fi scanned/xeroxed “readers” around specific themes be it literary, historical or theoretical. for the exhibition a bound edition was produced along with posters and re-reprinted readers available to purchase.

the night i went to printed matter was 1. go see the exhibition and space 2. see a conversation between artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed and critic Jessica Lynne, 3. pick up my purchased copy of No New Theories.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • there are now two locations: Printed Matter Main and Printed Matter St. Marks

  • late nights: open til 7pm MTWS open til 8 Thus&F

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: the whole space is a bookstore plus exhibition space

Gallery Korea

getting to Gallery Korea at the Korean Cultural Center is a bit difficult. their hours are 9am-5pm and extended hours are hard to come by (they did have one late night on Jan 29th but i missed even tho i had checked their website fairly regularly and even called to find out if they happened to be open on MLK day). thankfully, my day job is not far and i could stop by on my lunch break. i really wanted to see the exhibition Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time. the paik exhibition was put on to celebrate the korean cultural center’s 40th birthday. paik nam june paik is known as the grandfather of video art and prominent korean fluxus artist.

the gallery show was of three major pieces. a massive video piece: M200, a smaller work: Video Chandelier No.4, and photo documentation of Nam June Paik Gut Series performed in 1990 by photographer Jae Young Choi.

the wall text was in both english and korean, and had sweet little illustrations in two corners. a fun fact about paik that i didn’t know was that he and joseph beuys were best friends- i knew they hung out in the same fluxus circles and that beuys appears in paik’s video collages but its always nice to know when artists are friends :)

museum goal completed: 17/240

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Week 04: ATSNYC 2020

alright week four! i got to two university galleries. while the visits were planned independent of one another, both exhibitions had to with expanding and decolonizing narratives.

Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University

the title of the current exhibition “waiting for omar gatlato: Contemporary Art from Algeria and its Diaspora” is a stacked reference from a 1979 publication on early Algerian film, edited by Wassyla Tamzali, which references Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot and Merzak Allouache’s 1976 cult classic film Omar Gatlato. showing a variety of media, painting, sculpture, instillation and video, the single gallery exhibits 25 artists responding to the different eras of Algerian history from 1803 as a french colony to fighting for independence in 1962, the civil war in the 1990s and contemporary uprisings to unseat Bouteflika.

the show was fairly well balanced in terms of installation of media, however the sound bleeds of two of the films were at time distracting. the walls were painted a warm off white rather than a stark white which enhanced the tone of many of the pieces chosen.

i fell absolutely in love with the photographic light boxes and framed sketchbook pieces of Sonia Merabet. The assembled wooden paintings by Karim Ghelloussi are also worth noting.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: Mondays
    open until 8pm on Thursdays

  • free

  • restroom: yes

  • cute little lockers for a coat check

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: no, but had an exhibition catalog for sale

recommended reading/listening:

Grey Art Gallery at NYU

the current exhibition up at Grey Art Gallery at NYU is Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World 1950-1980. abstract art primarily from the 1950-80s has tendency to heavily white washed due the popularity and perpetual framing around abstract expressionism. This exhibition explores mid-20th-century abstract art from North Africa, West Asia, and the Arab diaspora. The paintings and sculptures are by artists from countries including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), borrowed from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection. Expanding abstractions' narrative to include multiple modernisms on non-objective art.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: Sunday/Monday
    open until 8pm on Wednesdays

  • free

  • restroom: no

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: no

recommended reading/listening:

museum goal completed: 13/240

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Week 03: ATSNYC 2020

week three down! i was able to visit three institutions this week- two of which were with my monthly meet up galleryGRRRLS (which, just turned two years old, feel free to check out the 2018 and 2019 archives. if you’re interested in coming let me know!)

Aperture Foundation

Aperture foundation had a closing party of their chelsea location. they will remain in their offices for about a year. they will be looking for a new venue for their gallery while they figure how they want to position themselves in the photo landscape moving forward.

the exhibition i was really excited to see was The New Black Vanguard Between Art and Fashion curated by antwaun sargent. sargent, who is an art writer and critic, recently wrote book, which is the exhibition’s namesake. as promised, the exhibition was very editorial. i will say the exhibition seemed a little heavy on the fashion, and i would have liked to see a little bit more of the “between”.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • gallery closed at this time.

recommended reading/listening:

Fotographiska

fotographiska is new yorks newest photo institution opening december 2019. fotographiska is part of the sweedish museum of the same name. (they have multiple locations world wide) they do not have a permanent collection and are a for-profit museum. they mainly show contemporary art.

the museum is very focused on having an experience there. allowing visitors to bring their wine to the galleries (there are trays on every floor right by the elevator for you to leave your glasses). there are 6 floors and three DJ stations through out. some of the exhibitions have accompanying audio. and they are open til midnight thursday-saturday.

the lighting was really good. diffuse through out but spotlight works really well- being dramatic without being tacky. the wall text for art work labels in some of the galleries - was confusing and way too small for such dark colored walls. speaking of wall colors, they made bold wall color choices (at times too bold).

the two exhibitions i was really excited to see were i am excited to see Tawny Chatmon "Inheritance" and Ellen von Unwerth "Devotion! 30 Years of Photographing Women"

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: almost never. thanksgiving/christmas

  • admission: $28

  • restroom: yes- seriously nicer than my apartment.

  • cafe: a bar, a cafe and a restaurant Verōnika

  • bookstore: yes

American Museum of Folk Art

the american museum of folk art is is a very welcoming little museum thanks to the staff. one floor only, with one exhibition and was very accessible for persons with limited mobility.

the exhibition on view is Memory Places: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler. what was interesting about this exhibition is that it focused on the idea of "self-taught” (rather than “outsider” which can be a problematic term)- however while not in the exhibition text, the collector and writers on the collection use it frequently;

a few exhibition highlights were the wall color which was a dark robins egg blue and white walls. normally, i’m an all white wall kinda art viewer- but the blue complemented rather than distracted from the artworks. they also had hanging frames for double sided artworks which were minimal and did not feel gimmicky in-terms of framing.

give me any excerpt of the henry darger’s vivian girls and i am a fairly happy camper.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: major holidays and open til 7PM most nights!

  • free - suggested donation

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

Museum Goal Completed: 11/240

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Week 02: ATSNYC 2020

before i get started on week 2 of museum visiting, i think its important to make time, to mention that the fact that trump threatened to bomb iranian cultural institutions last week is abhorrent and also a crime under international law. granted, the next day the pentagon said it would not happen, but never the less it was a threat to the iranian people, culture and heritage and simply put unacceptable behavior for any world leader. the types of institutions in new york city that i am visiting pale in comparison to the history of what was threatened in iran. heritage sites like Masjed-e Jāme spanning from the 8th century that underwent 12 centuries of construction, or Persepolis from the 5th century BC - our oldest nyc institution was built in 1804 for just some perspective. while i am grateful much of the iranian conflict has calmed for now, its just almost unbelievable that civilian infrastructure was even threatened.

now, on to week 2- most of the places i went to this week were alternative, or have some sort of alternative link- its going to be a hard week to top!

Ernest Rubenstein Gallery at the Manny Cantor Center

the visiting of “galleries” is a bit loose in my museum adventuring. i am not visiting traditional galleries unless they have a specific cultural heritage which is more than traditional art sales and representation. i am a little flexible-but have a list that i’m sticking to. i can add if i think things were omitted (to eventually update to the wikipedia once the year is complete).

the ernest rubenstein gallery is part of the manny cantor center in the lower east side. they have a fitness center, family & early childhood services, teen center, adult center, and an art school. the reason this school gallery is of note is because the lower east side has seen many artist live and work there. (which, yes, can be problematic.) artists like chaim gross, louise nevelson and mark rothko have worked or studied there.

the current show up at the gallery is The Road Less Traveled By, inspired by the robert frost poem, The Road Not Taken is a survey of student work in their adult programming. There was a wide variety of student work from their studio classes. the exhibition begins in the lobby and continues to the gallery that is located in the lower level.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: major holidays

  • free to visit the gallery- there is a desk you need to show valid ID at

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: no

recommended reading/listening:

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space

while called a “museum” the museum of reclaimed urban space is a living tribute to the alternative organizing in the lower east side. the LES in addition to having rich art history has a rich activist history. MoRUS housed in a former C-squat, that was entirely renovated by volunteers. there is a gallery as you walk in continues down to the lower level, where they have space that is great for organizing events, and can have small screenings. they have a permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.

the exhibition i made it a point to go before it closed was about the activist group No New Jails NYC. NoNewJailsNYC began in 2018 when mayor deblasio put in land use approvals for new jails to be built once new york closes Rikers Island (a prison with notoriously atrocious treatment of incarcerated people). prison abolition is having a moment now, because of the hard work and organizing of primarily black run organizations and communities of color. given how pervasive police violence and how glaring unjust the legal system is, no new jails focuses their work on prison abolition, decriminalization, and center their work on community safety through care, mutual aid and direct support.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: mondays and wednesday

  • $5 dollar suggested donation- that you can venmo!

  • restroom: yes - which that has a spy gallery (and is fully functional if you need)

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: they have a zine rack where they have free and low cost zines, and small library for MoRUS to use while on site.

recommended reading/listening:

White Columns

While on the outside, white columns seems like gallery, at its its core its an alternative art-space, and one of the first in new york city. founded in 1970 originally called 112 for its original 112 Green Street address, (becoming white columns in 1991 when they moved), to be an anti-establishment style gallery. In 2013, along with other prominent alt-spaces, white columns was part of Common Practice a (now defunct) collective to discuss how smaller art world institutions can survive with the ever changing city landscape (re: how to afford to stay in business.)

the current exhibition was wilder alison and estban jefferson.

jefferson’s paintings were absolutely fantastic. the scale, the pigmentation shifts, the left pencil and grid lines and washes of a muted palate on linen canvas were just captivating.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: mondays

  • free

  • restroom: no

  • cafe: no

  • bookstore: they have a zine rack where they have free and low cost zines, and small library for MoRUS to use while on site.

recommended reading/listening:

The Whitney

the whitney is one of my favorite institutions. while, yes there are a lot of issues, i think they have a really interesting collection and while it may be dated now, it was a revolutionary idea of for a woman, gertrude vanderbilt whitney, to create a museum, which focused on contemporary american art (as opposed to european).

the whintey has had several homes since its founding in 1930, as you remember the breuer (which is currently being used by the met) and is currently located in the meat-packing district in their multi-million dollar new home.

i love their biennial, if that was happening this year i totally would have planned that to be the exhibition i saw for this museum goal. the 2019 biennial was contentious last year, with protests surrounding their board member warren kanders. kanders is ceo of safariland - a company that produces military equipment and has been used against civilians at the boarder, Palestine and by police forces throughout the us. as of 2019 kanders stepped down from the board. why is this important? as a emerging expert in museums in new york city, its important to understand the contexts of the places i’m visiting, from their founding to their present day. museums are not neutral spaces- we shouldn’t treat them like they are, and have to address elephants in the room.

i decided to go the whitney last week, check out two of my favorite artists: rachel harrison and popeL- both artists i’ve been following for about ten years now. rachel harrison- rachel harrison: life hack is a survey show of her work on the 5th floor, and wiliam PopeL- chior which is a three part installation in the ground floor gallery and throughout the museum. popeL is having a moment currently, having a survey show of his work at moma, and public art fund recreation of his crawl pieces “conquest”.

as on view are making and knowing: craft in a rt 1950-2019 is a surprisingly great show . featuring works of he selections from the collection were alright - but do love that portrait of Gertrude. the roy litchenstein exhibition order and ornament explored some of his range outside of iconic pop style (don’t worry- two pieces are in the “dots”) and lastly, alan michelson’s wolf circus explores colonization with digital twist using AR.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: mondays

  • $25 regular admission - free fridays 7-9:30pm (free fridays can be fairly popular- so be prepared to wait about 1/2 hour- the line chills out around 8 depending on if any of their exhibitions are particularly hot or just opening)

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: yes, cafe and formal restaurant

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

museum goal completed: 8/240

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Week 01: ATSNYC 2020

first week of museum going down! i checked out four museums, new museum, the rubin, the frick, and the met breuer.

The New Museum

let me begin with i love the new museum. founded in 1977 by the brilliant marcia trucker. trucker envisioned a museum for contemporary artists - without a traditional permanent collection- to give scholarly recognition to living working artists.

i don’t think it can be understated the influence numu (no one actually calls it that) has had contemporary art viewing in new york city. at this point 40 years later there is hardly a museum without some sort of contemporary wing or gallery. while it isn’t a perfect institution (please see article on new museum union)

The exhibition of note taking up four floors was hans haacke retrospective* hans haacke: all connected. for this to be the first exhibition of ArtToSeeNYC was really meaningful. as former art student whose sculptural practice devolved (or evolved) from making to research based - haacke’s practice has shaped a lot of my ways of thinking and working. to be honest, i’ve been avoiding the new museum for a while, not necessarily wanting to support an institution which wouldn’t let their employees unionize. However, as of Oct 2019 that has mostly been resolved- so back to visiting as usual.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: mondays

  • free late night: thursday 6-9pm (very popular- so be prepared to wait in line)

  • restroom: yes- in fact,its one of the best in the art world.

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes- one of my absolute faves in the city

recommended reading/listening:

*personally, i don’t the word retrospective should ever really be used for living artists.

The Rubin

the rubin museum is one of the unsung gems in chelsea, if not the new york art-world in general. the founding mission is to provide a dynamic environment to learn and create personal connections with the ideas, art and cultures of the himalyan regions. it has rotating permanent collection, and regularly has fantastic contemporary shows, or contemporary artists in dialogue with their collection.

the exhibition of note that i went to go see was clapping with stones: art and acts of resistance organized by guest curator sara razar. the show featured 10 contemporary artists, working in a variety of medium, and piece is the artists’ response to a political event. taking the specificity of the rubin’s rotunda as central organizing principle, viewers circle around the 6th floor visiting each piece.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: tuesday and wednesday

  • free late night: friday 6-10pm

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

The Frick

the frick has to be one of my least favorite cultural institutions in new york. every stuffy museum stereotype takes place. annoying bag checks, no photos (save for the garden court), staff whose apathy makes sense because of dim lighting less than inspiring collection.

many of the reasons the museum is stuffy has to do with the trust which has- pros (no children under 12 are allowed except on family days) and cons (no photos, no visitation to the upper floors, no sitting on the furniture - which is never allowed, but, feel free to throw in a replica of bench or chair for folks to interact with) - but, the garden court is beautiful.

i have to say i can be a bit conservative when it comes to interactivity and “play” in museums. i don’t care much for it. however, there are times when it seems that some level of interaction makes plausible sense, particularly when the museum is a converted private home because the items were once used. museums that were once private residences can be extremely overwhelming and borderline infuriating if you have any semblance of class consciousnesses. to think that someone LIVED HERE- with all of this stuff, which they used- reminds you of just how divided new york city was and still is.

some interesting news is that the frick will be closing (likely july 2020) for some renovations. rumor has it that they will be taking over the met’s lease at the breuer building. to see the frick collection among brutalist architecture sound quite interesting, however, very little has been set in stone on when the moves will actually be happening, so i wanted to go early in 2020 just in case plans change.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: monday

  • free hours: wednesday 2-6pm

  • restroom: yes- with phone booths #retro

  • cafe: no be sure to snack before going

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

The Met Breuer

i love the marcel breuer building. it is easily my favorite building in new york city. from being “the most disliked building” in 1996 to a sought over home, the breuer has been a space to new chapters for for institutions since its inception. starting as relocation for the whitney museum until 2014 when the whitney moved (again) to their new space in meat-packing designed by renzo piano, the breuer has been an experiment in contemporary art for the met (2015-2020), and will be home to the frick collection while they undergo a major renovation (2020-?).

the met has been at the breuer since 2015, opening with a widely well reviewed and anticipated mid-career retrospective Kerry James Marshall: Mastry in addition to kjm, the met has some other noteworthy exhibitions including Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy and Siah Armajani: Follow This Line.

The Met seems to be in a contemporary corrective period, making sure to purchase works from a wide range of non-white artists, an are exhibiting their new purchases in the current exhibition "Home is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context.” While many of the pieces in the exhibition are exceptional works of art, the title and premise seem problematic at best. i can’t say that met has done anything too masterful with the space, so perhaps they can better utilize their contemporary art wing, and be more thoughtful, considerate and sensitive when organizing future group shows.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: monday

  • free hours: friday

  • restroom: yes- with phone booths #retro (maybe why the frick wants to be here?)

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

museum goal completed: 4/240

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2020

CommingSoon.JPG

in an effort to spend more time looking at art, rather than just reading about art and theory, I started to try and visit every museum and/or cultural institution in new york city. with varying levels of interest, time and finding alternative versions of “success” this year I am going to visit all of them.

based on a wikipedia list, with some personal input, i generated a list of 240 museums and cultural institutions. with 52 weeks in a year that averages to about 4 museums a week. every monday i will give some updates and insights.

:)

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